Encountering the Self

Between the ages of nine and ten, as their I incarnates more deeply, children often experience themselves for the first time as separate individuals, different from their parents and peers, and essentially alone. Hermann Koepke provides a lucid and highly readable explanation of the outer signs and symptoms of this essential turning point in the life of a child. He demonstrates the significance of this crucial moment by showing how the destiny and achievements of such personalities as Dante, Heinrich Schliemann, Oskar Kokoschka, Rudolf Steiner and Bruno Walter rest upon a fateful encounter or event in their ninth year.